The US sanctions-driven surge in crude tanker rates is being aided by the return of a rare tactic by traders and owners first spotted last year.
London-listed shipbroker Braemar has noted large dirty-trading tankers being cleaned up to shift diesel from the Middle East to Europe.
The switch into product markets happened before Friday’s sanctioning of 183 ships by the US government over Russian trading, which mainly involved crude tankers and sent rates soaring.
